Red Devils’ Fayette races to records

Updated: May 7, 2011 1:00AM

Billy Fayette had plenty of motivation with Oak Park-River Forest’s Malachy Schrobilgen in the 1,600-meter run Friday night.

Fayette, one of Hinsdale Central’s top long distance runners, had enough of a push coming from his own teammate, Zach Withall. But Fayette didn’t really need to worry about the runners behind him. He led the 1,600 at the 61st annual McCarthy Memorial Invitational from start to finish at Hinsdale Central and broke Schrobilgen’s time, the state’s fastest for Class 3A runners.

Fayette also set his second meet record on the evening after winning the 3,200 relay (7:49.10) with Ben Cherry, Azad Darbandi and Withall.

“I was not feeling that great going into the (1600) race,” the Richmond-bound Fayette said. “My stomach was not feeling that good. I knew it was going to be a good race. There were a lot of good runners in this race.”

Fayette (4:14.20) beat OPRF’s Jack Stapleton (4:14.60) and Schrobilgen (4:15.50). Schrobilgen previously held the state’s fastest time, 4:15.74, at Naperville North’s Scott Invitational held April 15.

The previous McCarthy Invite record was 4:16.3 in the 1,600, held by Lyons’ Ryan Kuphall (2005). The 3,200 relay broke the record of 7:50.7 set by Naperville North’s Nick Theil, John Kandl, Joe Royer and Rob Adelmann.

Fayette visited Richmond on the suggestion of his mother, Marty Vexter, who was familiar with the school as a native of Maryland.

“It worked out for me. I love the campus and I love the coach,” Fayette said.

Fayette raced for the final time at Dickinson Field and will run the 1,600 at the West Suburban Silver meet May 14 at Glenbard West against a star-studded field that should include Schrobilgen, Stapleton, Withall, York’s Jack Driggs and Lyons’ Sam Telfer, who did not run the event at the McCarthy meet.

Telfer was part of Lyons’ 3,200 relay, which lost to the record-setting Devils.

“Telfer has a fantastic kick and Billy pushes off right from the gun,” Schobilgen said about the conference matchup. “The 1,600 (at conference) will probably be the biggest race of the day. This is one of the better conferences for distances.”

OPRF outscored Lyons 112-100.33 to win the McCarthy Invite for the fifth consecutive year. OPRF junior Carl Heinz, the state leader in the high jump at 7 feet, won with a 6-10 leap and took first in the triple jump (43-6 1/4). Heinz was third in the long jump (20-10 3/4) and expects to compete in all three events at the conference meet.

“My consistency with the high jump has boosted my confidence so much,” Heinz said. “My first meet of the (outdoor) season, I jumped 6-9 and set the bar high. The high jump is always a battle of confidence. The problem is high jumpers always think they had a bad practice.”

Brendan Donley (1:55.10) also won the 800 for the Huskies. Heinz joined Downers South’s Jon Aldrin as a double winner among individual events. Aldrin won the 100 (10.90) and 200 (21.80).

The meet’s other double individual winner was Lyons sophomore Matt Harris in the 100 hurdles (15.30) and long jump (22-3 3/4). Harris’ personal record in the 110 is 15.2. His teamate, Dylan Fiedler, placed second in the long jump (21-1 3/4).

“We feel good as a team,” Harris said. “I’m sure we’ll have a lot of points [at conference], if everyone competes.”

Hinsdale Central senior Bill Monat (51-7 1/2) won the shot put. The meet did not include the discus due to Hinsdale Central’s lack of a competitive ring after construction at the school.

“I was really consistent today,” Monat said. “I had a couple of good throws. I felt loose and my technique was smooth.”

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